SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.

Juventus coach Antonio Conte has been banned for 10 months after an investigation into match-fixing. Last year Conte, 43, led the club to the Serie A title in his first season in charge without losing a single game. He was accused of failing to report alleged match-fixing involving former club Siena in the 2010-11 season.

Abby Wambach didn't put on her "Greatness Has Been Found" T-shirt right away. She instead strayed from her teammates and knelt alone at midfield -- and cried into a U.S. flag. Yes, greatness has been found. And payback has been achieved. The Americans are again on top of the women's soccer world. The United States won its third straight Olympic gold medal Thursday, beating Japan 2-1 in a rematch of last year's World Cup final and avenging the most painful loss in its history.

Corinthians capped off a fantastic footballing year with their first ever Copa Libertadores title, adding to their fifth Brasileirão triumph six months ago. They defeated Boca Juniors 2-0 in the Estadio Pacaembu with a brace from Emerson Sheik, winning the tie 3-1 on aggregate having drawn the first leg 1-1 in Buenos Aires the week before. A fantastic achievement considering that back in 2008 they were plying their trade in the Serie B!

Brazil have made it into their third Olympic football final and have a burning desire to win the only major competition to have eluded them. In 1984, the Brazilian national team reached their first Olympic final only to lose out to France and be left with consolation of a silver medal. After the successes of the Selecao in the World Cup and the years of dominance under Pele, Zico and the golden generation of the 1960s and 1970s, Olympic gold is still something that is highly coveted in South America.

Sporting Kansas City's path to the U.S. Open Cup title required penalty kicks. After converting one spot kick in regulation in Wednesday night's final, Sporting outlasted Seattle in a penalty shootout to derail the Sounders' bid to become the first team to win four straight titles. "I went out there before the first kick and I told the guys, `Look, different things are going to happen through these five - maybe up to nine - shots," manager Peter Vermes said after Kansas City won its first Cup since 2004. "Whatever happens, the next guy up needs to clear his mind and get on with his business."

"I basically didn't give a f**k what anyone said. Everyone should be a non-conformist because, if you listen to all those pricks telling you how to eat your breakfast or how to park your car, you end up with Big Brother. I played for the crowd. I wanted them to enjoy it as much as I did"

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

It is surely a loss to headline writers everywhere that Christoffer Rambo excels at handball. The Norwegian has moved to Dunkerque this summer meaning the obvious puns will be enjoyed only by the locals in northern France. Those of us who prefer our sport played with the feet had to make do with another Scandinavian import into l'Hexagone, though Zlatan Ibrahimovic has not disappointed.

"I don't know much about Ligue 1," Paris Saint-Germain's €21 million talent candidly remarked when presented to the press, before adding: "But I bet they know everything about me." If they didn't, they will now after the wall-to-wall coverage the arrival of a genuine world star provoked - even the former AC Milan forward's myriad tattoos have been given thorough analysis. However, Ibrahimovic's swapping of one fashion capital for another - for what French politicians have been quick to point out is an "indecent" annual salary of €14 million after tax - should not come as too much of a shock. It is merely the next, logical step on the upward trajectory the club's über-ambitious Qatari owners set it on when they took over a year ago. "I see here the club of the future that I didn't see in Italy," said Ibrahimovic. "Honestly, who wouldn't want to be part of this team?"

The $54.8 million paid by Liverpool to purchase Carroll from Newcastle United has left an indelible mark. A move produced by an exceptional set of circumstances -- Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli let loose with the company credit card in their first transfer window, knowing a British-record $78.2 million was on its way from Chelsea for Fernando Torres -- has, to an extent, set a course for Carroll's career. At 22, and with a decent season in the second tier and half a season in the Premier League under his belt, Carroll became the most expensive British player ever. He admitted to struggling with the expectations that invited. Yet it is what happens this summer -- how Carroll plays the options that he now has -- that will perhaps tell us the most about him.

A former teenage sensation named Michael took his final bow last week - a precocious, electric world-beater bowing out to a rapturous reception and still near the peak of his powers. Enough about the record-breaking swimmer Michael Phelps, however. Michael Owen has also had a busy Olympics.

He has watched the rowing, the gymnastics, the dressage, the athletics and even the football. Judging from his updates on social networking sites, Owen has become something of an authority on televised sport.The former European Footballer of the Year may be Britain's most famous couch potato. Indeed, he may now be an ex-footballer, even if the joke is that he has been one for the last three years. We don't know.

It was no secret Canada's strategy against the deeper, more talented Americans was to slow the game down. That included, Wambach said, having goalkeeper Erin McLeod hold the ball as long as possible, even over 15 seconds at times during the first half. Soccer rules say the goalkeeper must get rid of the ball within six seconds. During the second half, with the U.S. frantically trying to speed up the game while attempting multiple comebacks, Wambach began running near referee Christiana Pedersen and counting off the seconds that McLeod held the ball. She said she often got to 10 and into even the teens.

"I wasn't yelling. I was just counting," Wambach revealed Tuesday during an interview at the team hotel. "Probably did it five to seven times."

The last time came in the 78th minute, with Canada trying to milk a 3-2 lead. McLeod made a save, and Wambach began counting again.

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

The soccer tournament at the 2012 London Olympics is now heading into the semifinal round, with both games being played on Tuesday, August 7. Mexico and Japan meet in the first match at 5 p.m. local time. Both teams finished group play with a pair of wins and one tie to move on to the quarterfinals. Mexico won a hard-fought contest over Senegal with a pair of extra time goals to come away with a 4-2 win. Japan had an easier time in the quarterfinals, notching an easy 3-0 win over hapless Egypt.

Brazil was the only team in the tournament to win every group play match, and followed up its opening dominance with a comeback 3-2 win against Honduras. Korea moved on from group play despite winning just one game and drawing the other two. The Koreans narrowly advanced past hometown Great Britain by winning a penalty shootout 5-4.

In a 911 call released to the local news outlet The Columbia Dispatch, an unidentified female describes "a very drunk person" who fell down and became unconscious. The 22 year old — who did not travel with the Crew for its 1-0 loss at DC United the previous day — was rushed to Grant Medical Center, but was pronounced dead just after 1:50am.

The U.S. women's soccer team is back in the Olympic gold medal match after a wild come-from-behind 4-3 win over Canada with a goal in the final minute of extra time. Now the Americans will be out to avenge one of the most gut-wrenching losses in the program's history. Alex Morgan gave the U.S. its first lead of the night in the third minute of injury time Monday, completing the win over Canada in the Olympic semifinals at Old Trafford.

Over the weekend, Harry Redknapp reportedly announced that Luka Modric was promised that he could leave Tottenham this summer. "The chairman [Daniel Levy] said to him last year 'Give us one more season and if Real come in I won't stand in your way,'" he said. Redknapp, of course, was Tottenham manager until June, when he was let go. And last summer he was the one dealing with a protracted Modric saga. Chelsea had made several bids, reportedly as high as $30 million, all of which Tottenham turned down, and Modric was unhappy at not being allowed to leave. So much so, in fact, that he sat out Spurs' first game of the season, against Manchester United, with Redknapp saying at the time that "his head's not in the right place." His head may or may not have been "in the right place" nine days later, but by that stage it was a moot point: The transfer window had closed and Modric was going nowhere.

Monday, August 06, 2012

Speculation is increasing in Italy that Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to invest in AC Milan via the partially state-owned utility company Gazprom. Berlusconi is a close friend of Putin and La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that he travelled to Russia for four days on "non-political" business. Talks over Gazprom buying a stake in the seven-time European champions are believed to be the reason.

South Korea will meet Brazil in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games after beating Great Britain 5-4 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw at the Millennium Stadium. Brazil are through to the semi-finals of the Olympic Games football tournament after twice coming from behind to beat Honduras 3-2 at St James' Park. Japan booked their place in the semi-finals of the 2012 Olympics with a comfortable 3-0 win over Egypt at Old Trafford. Yoshida doubled Japan's lead after the break and Otsu's header sealed a 3-0 triumph for Japan, who will play Mexico in the last four after their match with Senegal went to extra-time before they wrapped up a 4-2 victory at Wembley.

It wasn't meant to be this way. From the moment he became part of Roma's youth system Alberto Aquilani was identified as one of the brightest prospects to emerge in years and yet now, just over a decade later, he moves to Fiorentina looking to rediscover that early promise. Having finally ended a Liverpool career that was always ill-fitting and never truly began in earnest, the 28-year-old moves to a club now synonymous with rebuilding the reputation of fallen stars. He will be hoping the famous Viola shirt can do the same for him.

Off the Ball never rests in its mission to scratch around the underbelly of professional football to find the most bizarre, humorous and inexplicable stories.
This week, Zlatan Ibrahimovic beats up new PSG team-mates, Ever Banega's new Ferrari bursts into flames, a Spanish bakery flogs 'fingers of Mou' ahead of the Supercopa, Manchester City coach David Platt rolls back the years with stunning bicycle kick and Sergio Ramos thrashes Kaka in an Olympic swim-off.